Improved gold-washing machine



A initiiert gta-i125 aient dtiiiiirr.

WILLIAM B. ELTONPIEAD, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Leners Patent No. 92,594, dated .hay 13, Iseo.

rMPnovnD GOLD-WASHING MACHINE.

The Schedule referred to in these Lettera Patent'and making part of the same;

Tol all 'whom it may concern: Be it .known that I, WILLIAM B. EL'roNHnAn, of

the-city and county of Philadelphia, inthe State of It consists of the use of a vessel or vessels having revolving agitators therein, which cause all particles of less specific gravity than gold, to be passed off with the water at thetop of the vessel.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will describe its construction and op' eration.

In the drawing- A represents a wooden or metallic vessel 'or series of vessels, more or less in number, as may be required,

'of a tapering form, or larger at the top than at the bottom, and has an auxiliary removable bottom, A, oi" the shape represented, and upon the centre or apex of which is a pointed step, a, upon which stands shaft B, the lower end of which, at a, is made to iit and revolve upon the point a.

Upon shaft4 B. is secured a series of agitators or or arms, of any number -that may be desired, and may be set vertically or inclined to the shaft, as will be best suited to the kind of matter to be washed away from the gold, and the shape of the blades of the agitators may be varied according to circumstances.`

At the top of the vessel are placed braces, which confine the shaft B to a central position, and allow it freely to revolve.

Shaft B is pnt inV motion by any of the known methods of driving upright shafts.

' One method of doing so 1s shown in red lines, b3

being a revolving shaft, upon which is gear-wheel b1, gearing into wheel b on shaft B; the gear-Wheels being proportioned to give the shaft B the necessary number of revolutions to produce the desired result.

Where a series of vessels, A, is to be used, the second must be placed in such a Way that the top will be lower than the first, and so on through the series, in order to give the drain vor overflow through ll the necessary fall4 to run the water from the first tank or vessel into the second, and so on through the series.

Upon the side of each vessel isto be. a door, A2, which is to be packed 'with rubber or other elastic packing, so as to be water-tight.

- At the lower end of shaft B, and attached thereto, and of the shape to correspond with the depression in the auxiliary bottom A1, is the scraper or rake B2. This .rake vis raised a little from the bottom of the vessel, so as not to disturb the gold that has, by its greater specific gravity, settled on the bottom, but revolves near to it, and, by its being slottedortoothed on its lower edge, allows the particles of gold to pass -through the slots or between the teeth, and fall tov the bottom, while the lighter substances will be made to rise in the water by the inclination which the scraper or rake has with 'the shaft B.

In using a series of tanks or vessels, the revolutions of shaft B must begreater in the hrst than in the second, and so on, decreasing the speed to the last of the series.

The pulver-ized quartz and gold are fed into the tank or vessel A through spout C, or other equivalent de'- vice, and the water through pipe D.

Care must be taken not to feed too great a proportion of the pulverized quartz, or other material containing the gold, to the quantity of water, for when that is the case, more of the particles of gold pass olf with the water through. .trough E, into the second vessel or tank, than would be the case if there were an excess of water to the quantity of pulverzed quartz, or other substances; but some of the particles of gold will .in any event pass over through .trough E from. the first vessel into the second, and.

even to. the .third or fourth; but the same process being repeated in each of the vessels, the gold will be found to have settled to the bottom of each of the .vessels used in the series, untilv all the gold is separated from all the lighter impurities,'and deposited on the bottom of the vessels, when it is ready to be amalgamated and completely separated from all foreign substances.

'-When a suicientquant-ity of 'gold has been collected on the 'bottom of the vessel, or so much as would be in ycontact with the scraper or rake, then the feeding in of pulverized quartz and water, as well as the revolutions of the shaft must stop,.the door A2 opened; or the water in the vessel may be drawn off by drain-cocks, placed at the proper height above the deposit of gold in the bottom, when the remainder can be removed from thebottom through said door A2, to be further disposed of.

Heretofore the machines used for washing. gold, were expensive in construction, and defective in operation, much of the gold passing od' with other substances, and being lost; but by this cheap and simple process, I am enabled to save all, even to the last particle. v

I la'y no claim to any ofth'els devices, singly, that constitute the machine, as th'yfare admitted to be old; but -used in the manherandivith the @construction herein described, lthe resultv ismore cheaply and satisfactorily obtained than by any known process.

Having thus described my invention,

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv v The combination of thev revolving shaft B, having arms or :tgitntors Bl and scraper or rake B2, `with the.

4operate in the manner and for the vessel A, either singly, or in series, having the aux,- ilnrybottom A1 and the door A2, all constructed to purpose substantallyas. described.

" y WM. B. ELTONHEAD.

Witnesses:

' A. L. ELTONHEAD,

E. J. Y. ELTONHEAD. 

